Mechanic's Lien Waiver Form and Advance-Waiver Rules in Alaska

At a glance

Requirements one by one

A signed waiver binds without payment — but only for past work

Alaska's waiver rule is one section, AS 34.35.117. Subsection (a) says a written waiver of lien or stop-lending-notice rights, signed by the claimant, "requires no consideration and is valid and binding." That is unusual and important: the waiver does not need to be paid for, or supported by any other consideration, to take effect. A claimant who signs one is bound by it even if no money has changed hands.

The counterweight is a time limit built into the same subsection. A waiver "may not relate to labor, materials, services, or equipment furnished after the date the waiver is signed by the claimant." So a waiver reaches only what the claimant had already furnished when it was signed. An advance waiver that tries to give up lien rights for the rest of a job — future draws, later deliveries, work not yet performed — does not reach that later work. In practice every Alaska waiver operates as a partial waiver good through its signing date.

A laborer-employee cannot waive at all

Subsection (b) carves out one group entirely. An "individual" — defined in AS 34.35.120(10) as a natural person who actually performs labor on the improvement as an employee of the owner or a contractor — "may not waive" the right to claim a lien, and "[a] waiver that purports to waive the lien rights of that individual or class of individuals is void." A worker's own lien for wages cannot be signed away, whether by the worker or by anyone else.

There is no statutory form

Section 34.35.117 prescribes no form. It requires only a writing signed by the claimant. Alaska does not divide waivers into conditional and unconditional or progress and final versions, does not mandate a warning, and lists no required fields. A privately drafted waiver that is written and signed is effective, and notarization is not required.

What trips people up

The "no consideration" rule cuts against a claimant. In many states a conditional waiver is ineffective until the claimant is actually paid. Alaska has no such statutory condition: a signed waiver is binding on its own terms even if the promised payment never arrives. A claimant who signs a broad unconditional waiver in exchange for a check has little statutory fallback if the check does not clear, aside from the future-work and laborer-employee protections. Making the waiver expressly conditional on cleared payment is a matter of drafting, not a statutory default.

The future-work limit is a shield, not a license to be careless. It voids only the part of a waiver that reaches work furnished after signing; everything furnished through the signing date is fully released. Signing at the wrong time — before a disputed item is resolved, for instance — can still surrender a real claim, because that work was already furnished.

Common questions

Does an Alaska lien waiver have to be notarized or use a set form? No. Section 34.35.117 requires only a writing signed by the claimant; there is no statutory form, warning, or notarization requirement.

Can a contract waive lien rights for the whole project up front? No. A waiver cannot relate to labor, materials, services, or equipment furnished after it is signed, so it cannot reach future work.

Can a worker be required to waive their lien for wages? No. A waiver of the lien rights of a laborer-employee described in AS 34.35.120(10) is void under § 34.35.117(b).

Statutes and sources

• AS 34.35.117 (waiver of lien rights; no consideration, no future work, laborer carve-out) — https://www.akleg.gov/basis/statutes.asp?media=print&secStart=34.35.117&secEnd=34.35.117 (accessed 2026-07-23)
• AS 34.35.120 (definitions; "individual" laborer-employee at paragraph (10)) — https://www.akleg.gov/basis/statutes.asp?media=print&secStart=34.35.120&secEnd=34.35.120 (accessed 2026-07-23)